Systems and methods for automatically assessing fault in relation to motor vehicle collisions

ABSTRACT

A computer-implemented method of providing a recommendation as to a fault determination for a motor vehicle collision is disclosed. The method may include receiving unstructured text describing the circumstances of the collision. The unstructured text is evaluated an associated intent related to the circumstances of the motor vehicle collision is identified. The intent is mapped to an internal node of a decision tree corresponding to a set of fault-determination rules. The computer then successively prompts and receive input responsive to the prompting that corresponds to details of the circumstances of the collision. The computer may identify, based on the received input, a path through the decision tree ending at a leaf node that corresponds to a fault-determination rule governing motor vehicle collisions that matches the circumstances of the motor vehicle collision. The recommendation is then provided based on that rule. Related systems and computer-readable media are also disclosed.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATIONS

This application is a continuation of U.S. patent application Ser. No.16/594,893 entitled “SYSTEMS AND METHODS FOR AUTOMATICALLY ASSESSINGFAULT IN RELATION TO MOTOR VEHICLE COLLISIONS”, filed on Oct. 7, 2019,the contents of which are herein incorporated by reference in theirentirety.

FIELD

This relates to artificial intelligence and, more particularly, toautomatic decision support systems for use in assessing fault in motorvehicle collisions.

BACKGROUND

In motor vehicle collisions, one or both of the parties may beconsidered “at fault” to a complete or partial degree. For example, inthe simple case of a rear-end collision where a first vehicle rear-endsa second vehicle while the second vehicle is stopped at a traffic light,most insurers and jurisdictions will consider the first vehicle to becompletely at fault. Historically, having a computer determine faultacross the variety of possible circumstances of different motor vehiclecollisions has not been considered practical or possible.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

Embodiments are described in detail below, with reference to thefollowing drawings:

FIG. 1 shows an example decision tree based on a set offault-determination rules;

FIG. 2 is a block diagram showing a system that employs natural languageprocessing to identify a decision tree node based on a natural languagedescription of the circumstances of a motor vehicle collision;

FIG. 3 shows how an internal node of the decision tree of FIG. 1 may beidentified using the system of FIG. 2 ;

FIG. 4 is a schematic operation diagram illustrating an operatingenvironment of an example embodiment;

FIG. 5 depicts a high-level operation diagram of an example computingdevice;

FIG. 6 depicts a simplified software organization exemplary of theexample computing device of FIG. 5 ; and

FIG. 7 is a flowchart depicting example operations performed by acomputer server system in assessing fault for a motor vehicle collisionbased on a decision tree using the system of FIG. 2 .

Like reference numerals are used in the drawings to denote like elementsand features.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION OF VARIOUS EMBODIMENTS

Fault in motor vehicle collisions may be determined in a variety ofmanners. In many jurisdictions, legislation defines the manner in whichmotor vehicle collision fault must be determined. For example, in manyjurisdictions utilizing some variant of “no fault” insurance, fault maybe determined in accordance with a set of rules.

In a particular example, in certain Canadian provinces (Ontario, PEI,NB, QC), whether a motor vehicle accident is considered “at fault” ornot “at fault” is determined according to a set of fault-determinationrules set out in government regulations. For example, Ontario'sfault-determination rules are set out in Reg. 668 under the InsuranceAct (“Fault Determination Rules”, Revised Regulations Ontario (RRO)1990, Reg. 668). The contents of the most recent consolidated version ofReg. 668 as last amended by Ontario Regulation 445/18 are available fromthe Queen's Printer for Ontario and online athttps://www.ontario.ca/laws/regulation/900668 (retrieved Oct. 7, 2019).The contents of the most recent consolidated version of Reg. 668 as ofOct. 7, 2019 are herein incorporated by reference in their entirety.

A review of a set of fault-determination rules (such, for example, thoseset out in Reg. 668) may reveal that they are relatively complicated,involving a large number of possible scenarios, including illustrationsof various accident scenarios and variations thereof. For example, thiscomplexity is apparent in the text of the Ontario rule related toaccidents in parking lots which is set out below in Table 1. Asexemplified by that rule, application of fault-determination rulesrequires careful consideration of both the nature and circumstances of agiven collision, including the configuration of the location where theaccident occurs. Furthermore, resort to other rules may be required suchas, for example, in the case of the parking lot rule if the collisionoccurs “on a thoroughfare”.

TABLE 1 Province of Ontario, Canada fault-determination rule for parkinglot collisions RULES FOR AUTOMOBILES IN PARKING LOTS 16. (1) Thissection applies with respect to incidents in parking lots. (2) Thedegree of fault of a driver involved in an incident on a thoroughfareshall be determined in accordance with this Regulation as if thethoroughfare were a road. (3) If automobile “A” is leaving a feeder laneand fails to yield the right of way to automobile “B” on a thoroughfare,the driver of automobile “A” is 100 per cent at fault and the driver ofautomobile “B” is not at fault for the incident. (4) if automobile “A”is leaving a parking space and fails to yield the right of way toautomobile “B” on a feeder lane or a thoroughfare, the driver ofautomobile “A” is 100 per cent at fault and the driver of automobile “B”is not at fault for the incident. (5) In this section,  “feeder lane”means a road in a parking  lot other than a thoroughfare; “thoroughfare” means a main road for  passage info, through or out of aparking lot.

Because of the complexity of fault-determination rules, the applicationof such rules to accidents may require significant training. This maymake it impractical to train all persons involved in handling insuranceclaims in how to apply the fault-determination rules. Accordingly, somepersons such as, for example, insurer telephone call center agents, maynot be trained in how to assess fault using a given set offault-determination rules. Additionally or alternatively, some suchpersons—for example, direct insurance representatives—may only betrained on how fault should be determined in the most common situations.This, however may mean, that fault determination and, thus clientswaiting for their claims to be handled, must wait, for example, whilespecially trained workers are consulted in the case of a claim relatedto an accident not corresponding to one of those most common situations.

By way of overview, according to the subject matter of the presentapplication, natural language processing is employed to allow fault tobe determined according to fault-determination rules without requiring ahuman expert to be consulted. More particularly, natural languageprocessing is employed together with a decision tree corresponding to aset of fault-determination rules in order to provide a recommendation asto fault based, at least in part, on natural language input(unstructured text) describing the circumstances of a motor vehiclecollision.

According to the subject matter of the present application, there may beprovided a computer system. The computer system may include a processorand a memory. The memory may store instructions that, when executed bythe computer system, cause the computer system to: receive, by theprocessor, unstructured text describing the circumstances of a motorvehicle collision; evaluate, by the processor, the unstructured text andidentify, based on the evaluation, an associated intent related to thecircumstances of the motor vehicle collision; map the intent to aninternal node of a decision tree corresponding to a set of prescribedfault-determination rules; successively prompt and receive, by theprocessor, input responsive to the prompting and corresponding todetails of the circumstances of the motor vehicle collision andidentify, based on the received input, a path through the decision treestarting from the internal node and ending at a leaf node of thedecision tree, the leaf node corresponding to a fault-determination rulegoverning motor vehicle collisions and matching the circumstances of themotor vehicle collision; and provide, by the processor, a recommendationas to a fault determination for the motor vehicle collision based on thefault-determination rule.

Conveniently in this way, a recommendation as to fault determination fora motor vehicle accident may be provided in accordance with a prescribedset of fault-determination rules while avoiding the need to review eachof the fault-determination rules individually. Additionally, the need tonavigate the entirety depth of a decision tree based on the rules mayalso be avoided. In this way, a recommendation as to fault determinationmay be efficiently provided despite a motor vehicle collision havingmore complex and/or more unusual circumstances than would be captured bya simple subset of the fault-determination rules covering the mostcommon and/or simple circumstances. For example, a chat bot may beprovided utilizing such a system to provide a recommendation as to faultdetermination. Conveniently, such a solution may allow a faultdetermination to be made by a person who has received no training on thedetails of the fault-determination rules and/or has received much lesstraining than otherwise might be required to make a fault determinationaccording to the rules.

In some implementations, the instructions, when executed by the computersystem, may further cause the computer system to: initiate processing ofan insurance claim related to the motor vehicle collision. It may bethat responsibility for the motor vehicle collision is to be apportionedbetween one or more insurers based on the recommendation as to thedetermination of fault.

In some implementations, the prompting may include presenting promptsbased on intermediate nodes along the path between the internal node andthe leaf node of the decision tree.

In some implementations, the prescribed fault-determination rules maycorrespond to a first regulatory jurisdiction. Additionally, providingthe recommendation as to the determination of fault for the motorvehicle collision based on the fault-determination rule may includemapping the fault-determination rule to a correspondingfault-determination rule of a second regulatory jurisdiction andproviding the recommendation as to the determination of fault based onthe corresponding fault-determination rule.

In some implementations, the instructions, when executed by the computersystem, may further cause the computer system to: identify the secondregulatory jurisdiction from amongst a plurality of secondary regulatoryjurisdictions.

For example, it may be that the second regulatory jurisdiction isidentified based on a current location of an input device used toprovide the unstructured text describing the circumstances of the motorvehicle collision and/or the input received responsive to the prompting.

In some implementations, at least one of the secondary regulatoryjurisdictions may have an associated set of fault-determination rulesthat is less specific than the prescribed fault-determination rules ofthe first regulatory jurisdiction.

In some implementations, the instructions, when executed by the computersystem, may further cause the computer system to: calculate a confidencelevel in association with the recommendation.

In some implementations, the instructions, when executed by the computersystem, may further cause the computer system to: add the recommendationas to the determination of fault and the associated confidence level toa data set for training a natural-language processing neural network foruse in evaluating unstructured text describing the circumstances ofmotor vehicle collisions to identify intents related to thecircumstances of the motor vehicle collisions.

In some implementations, the evaluation of the unstructured text and theidentification of the associated intent related to the circumstances ofthe motor vehicle collision may be performed using a natural-languageprocessing neural network trained using an earlier version of the dataset.

In some implementations, the unstructured text describing thecircumstances of the motor vehicle collision and/or the input receivedresponsive to the prompting may be received via a chat bot.

In some implementations, the instructions, when executed by the computersystem, may further cause the computer system to: identify the decisiontree from amongst a plurality of decision trees corresponding to sets ofprescribed fault-determination rules of different jurisdictions.

According to the subject-matter of the present application, there may beprovided a computer-implemented method. The method may include receivingunstructured text describing the circumstances of a motor vehiclecollision; evaluating the unstructured text and identifying, based onthe evaluation, an associated intent related to the circumstances of themotor vehicle collision; mapping the intent to an internal node of adecision tree corresponding to a set of prescribed fault-determinationrules; successively prompting and receiving input responsive to theprompting and corresponding to details of the circumstances of the motorvehicle collision and identifying, based on the received input, a paththrough the decision tree starting from the internal node and ending ata leaf node of the decision tree, the leaf node corresponding to afault-determination rule governing motor vehicle collisions and matchingthe circumstances of the motor vehicle collision; and providing arecommendation as to a fault determination for the motor vehiclecollision based on the fault-determination rule.

In some implementations, the method may further include: initiatingprocessing of an insurance claim related to the motor vehicle collision.It may be that responsibility for the motor vehicle collision is to beapportioned between one or more insurers based on the recommendation asto the determination of fault.

In some implementations, the prompting may include presenting promptsbased on intermediate nodes along the path between the internal node andthe leaf node of the decision tree.

In some implementations, the prescribed fault-determination rules maycorrespond to a first regulatory jurisdiction. Additionally, providingthe recommendation as to the determination of fault for the motorvehicle collision based on the fault-determination rule may includemapping the fault-determination rule to a correspondingfault-determination rule of a second regulatory jurisdiction andproviding the recommendation as to the determination of fault based onthe corresponding fault-determination rule.

In some implementations, the method may include further include:identifying the second regulatory jurisdiction from amongst a pluralityof secondary regulatory jurisdictions. It may be that the secondregulatory jurisdiction is identified based on a current location of aninput device used to provide at least one of the unstructured textdescribing the circumstances of the motor vehicle collision and theinput received responsive to the prompting.

In some implementations, at least one of the secondary regulatoryjurisdictions may have an associated set of fault-determination rulesthat is less specific than the prescribed fault-determination rules ofthe first regulatory jurisdiction.

In some implementations, the method may further include: calculating aconfidence level in association with the recommendation as to thedetermination of fault; and adding the recommendation as to thedetermination of fault and the associated confidence level to a data setfor training a natural-language processing neural network for use inevaluating unstructured text describing the circumstances of motorvehicle collisions to identify intents related to the circumstances ofthe motor vehicle collisions. The evaluation of the unstructured textand the identification of the associated intent related to thecircumstances of the motor vehicle collision may be performed using anatural-language processing neural network trained using an earlierversion of the data set.

According to the subject matter of the present application, there may beprovided a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may bea non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readablemedium may store instructions that, when executed by a processor of acomputer system, cause the computer system to perform theabove-described method.

According to the subject matter of the present application, there may beprovided a computer-readable medium. The computer-readable medium may bea non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. The computer-readablemedium may store instructions that, when executed by a processor of acomputer system, cause the computer system to: receive unstructured textdescribing the circumstances of a motor vehicle collision; evaluate theunstructured text and identify, based on the evaluation, an associatedintent related to the circumstances of the motor vehicle collision; mapthe intent to an internal node of a decision tree corresponding to a setof prescribed fault-determination rules; successively prompt and receiveinput responsive to the prompting and corresponding to details of thecircumstances of the motor vehicle collision and identify, based on thereceived input, a path through the decision tree starting from theinternal node and ending at a leaf node of the decision tree, the leafnode corresponding to a fault-determination rule governing motor vehiclecollisions and matching the circumstances of the motor vehiclecollision; and provide a recommendation as to a fault determination forthe motor vehicle collision based on the fault-determination rule.

Other aspects and features of the present application will be understoodby those of ordinary skill in the art from a review of the followingdescription of examples in conjunction with the accompanying figures.

In the present application, the term “and/or” is intended to cover allpossible combinations and sub-combinations of the listed elements,including any one of the listed elements alone, any sub-combination, orall of the elements, and without necessarily excluding additionalelements.

In the present application, the phrase “at least one of . . . or . . . ”is intended to cover any one or more of the listed elements, includingany one of the listed elements alone, any sub-combination, or all of theelements, without necessarily excluding any additional elements, andwithout necessarily requiring all of the elements.

As mentioned above, the inventors have recognized that a given set offault-determination rules may, with some effort, be reduced to adecision tree. For example, such a decision tree could be produced usingtechniques as may be known, for example, to persons skilled in the artof operations research.

A decision tree corresponding to a set of fault-determination rules treemay, for example, be a binary tree in which internal nodes of the treecorrespond to binary-response (e.g., yes/no) questions, edges betweennodes correspond to responses (e.g., “yes” and “no”), and leaf nodescorrespond to fault-determinations. Notably, many sets offault-determination rules such as, for example, the Ontario rulesdiscussed above, are complex and take into account a large number ofdetails related to the particulars and circumstances of collisions suchthat such a decision tree may be particularly extensive (i.e., have alarge number of nodes and edges).

An example decision tree 100 based on a set of fault-determination rulesis shown in FIG. 1 .

As illustrated, the example decision tree 100 includes a root node 110,internal nodes 120, and leaf nodes 130. In depicting the exampledecision tree 100, not all of its various nodes have been shown for thesake of compactness. Ellipses 122 depict portions of the tree that havebeen omitted in FIG. 1 . The ellipses 122 thus correspond to variousinternal nodes and leaf nodes that are not shown in FIG. 1 . Morebroadly, the depiction of the example decision tree 100 has beendeliberately simplified. For example, the height of an actual decisiontree for a set of fault-determination rules would typically be muchhigher (i.e., the tree would be deeper than the example decision tree100 is depicted as being).

As mentioned above, the internal nodes 120 may each correspond to arespective binary-response (e.g., yes/no) question related to the factsof a given motor vehicle collision. The edges extending from theinternal nodes 120 may correspond to responses (e.g., “yes” or “no”).For example, the left-hand edges from of each of the internal nodes 120may correspond to negative (“no”) responses while the right-hand edgesextending from each of the leaf-nodes may correspond to affirmative(“yes”) responses. Notably, the root node 110 also corresponds to abinary-response question and may, because the example decision tree 100has more than one node, be considered one of the internal nodes 120.

The leaf nodes 130 correspond to fault determinations. For example, agiven one of the leaf nodes 130 may correspond to a first driverinvolved in a collision having some share of fault (e.g., 0%, 50%, 100%,etc.) and a second driver involved in the collision having somecommensurate share of fault (e.g., 100%, 50%, 0%, etc.). Notably, atleast some of the leaf nodes 130 may correspond to fault determinationsinvolving more than two vehicles/drivers and/or involving a singlevehicle/driver.

In theory, fault may be assessed for a given motor vehicle collisionusing a set of facts related to a given motor vehicle collision to,starting from the root node 110, navigate the example decision tree 100by assessing the questions associated with each of the internal nodes120 using the facts to determine the edge/arc to follow from a given oneof the internal nodes 120 to a next node and so on and so forth,defining a path through the example decision tree 100 ending where oneof the leaf nodes 130 is reached. Then, a fault determination may beprovided based on that one of the leaf nodes 130. A simplifiedillustration of navigating the example decision tree 100 for some set offacts is depicted using a set of bold arrows illustrating a path throughthe tree ending at the one of the leaf nodes 130 that is outlined inbold in FIG. 1 .

As discussed above, the example decision tree 100 has been simplifiedincluding by showing it as having an artificially low height (depth). Inactuality, use of the example decision tree 100 to manually assess faultwould be impractical. For example, it would be time-prohibitive for ahuman to use such a tree manually. Indeed, even if a computer was usedto prompt a user as to each of the questions corresponding to the onesof the internal nodes 120 encountered while navigating the tree, such anavigation could not reasonably be completed in, for example, the amountof time allotted to a direct insurance representative tor consider faultin relation to a given motor vehicle collision. For example, it may bedesirable to have an insurance representative determine fault, at leastprovisionally, during a telephone call with a customer. (Notably, forexample, this could allow for “one call” resolution of at least somemotor vehicle insurance claims.) In any event, a person assessing faultwould not reasonably be expected to manually employ a decision tree toassess fault as they would likely be able to more easily and/orefficiently reach a fault determination by referencing the correspondingfault-determination rules directly.

The subject matter of the present application employs natural languageprocessing techniques to speed navigation of a fault determination tree(a decision tree based on a set of fault-determination rules). Inparticular, an automated system according to the subject matter of thepresent application may allow for determination of fault based, at leastin part, on a free-form, unstructured, natural language description ofthe circumstances of a given motor vehicle collision.

A block-diagram of such a system in accordance with the subject matterof the present application is depicted in FIG. 2 . As illustrated, asystem 200 receives free-form text 210 representing the circumstances ofa motor vehicle collision and then, based on that text, provides anidentification 230 of a corresponding node of a fault-assessment ruledecision tree such as, for example, a node of the example decision tree100.

As further described below, the system 200 may correspond to astored-program computer that has been configured with software to adaptit to act as the system 200.

The system 200 is comprised of several components. For example, asillustrated, the system 200 includes a natural language processingengine 202 and an intent mapper 204.

The natural language processing engine 202 is adapted to receive thefree-form text 210. The natural language processing engine thenidentifies an intent 220 based on the free-form text 210. The intent 220may be considered the result of applying a mapping between unstructuredtext describing the circumstances of a motor vehicle collisions and aset of possible classifications (intents) to the free-form text 210.

The natural language processing engine 202 may operate in a variety ofmanners and may, in some embodiments, employ known natural languageprocessing techniques. For example, support vector machines (SVMs)and/or convolutional neural networks (CNNs) may be employed by thenatural language processing engine 202. In some implementations, thenatural language processing engine 202 may correspond to and/or mayemploy one or more commercially-available software packages and/orservices for natural language classification. For example, one or moreof the IBM Watson Natural Language Classifier available fromInternational Business Machines Corp (IBM) of Armonk, New York, USA; theMicrosoft Language Understanding Intelligence Services (LUIS) availablefrom Microsoft Corporation of Redmond, Washington, USA; and/or ApacheOpenNLP available from the Apache Software Foundation of Forest Hill,Maryland, USA, may be employed in a given implementation of the naturallanguage processing engine 202. In a particular example, the naturallanguage processing engine 202 may employ one or more natural-languageprocessing neural networks. Such neural networks and, more broadly, thenatural language processing engine 202 may, in some embodiments, betrained, at least initially using a training set (a data set fortraining) including unstructured texts describing the circumstances ofmotor vehicle collisions and corresponding intents and/or faultdeterminations. Some or all of those free form texts may be correspondto the circumstances of hypothetical and/or historical motor vehicleaccidents. The corresponding intents and/or determinations of fault maybe determined in a variety of manners including, for example, by trainedexperts reviewing those free form texts and/or the circumstances of thecorresponding hypothetical and/or historical motor vehicle accidents andapplying the fault-determination rules.

Notably, a skilled person will recognize that employing natural languageprocessing techniques to provide an implementation of the naturallanguage processing engine 202 consistent with the description of thesystem 200 and, more broadly, consistent with the present applicationnecessarily requires the use of an electronic computer. This need for acomputer is particularly clear when one considers the performancerequirements necessary to realize the benefits of the subject matter ofthe present application including the desire to allow persons such as,for example, the aforementioned direct insurance representatives, tomake a fault determination using a system consistent with the subjectmatter of the present application in a reasonable time such as to allowa quick fault determination to be provided to a customer (e.g., duringor shortly after a telephone call).

The intent mapper 204 takes the intent 220 provided by the naturallanguage processing engine 202 and maps it to provide the identification230 of a corresponding node of a fault-assessment rule decision tree. Insome implementations, the intent mapper 204 may correspond to a look-uptable mapping possible values of the intent 220 to various nodes of afault-determination decision tree. For example, such a look-up table maymap intents to nodes of the example decision tree 100. In otherimplementations, the intent mapper 204 may operate in some other mannerthan using a look-up table. In yet other implementations, the intentmapper 204 may be omitted such as, for example, if the various possiblevalues of the intent 220 correspond directly to the nodes of a givenfault-determination decision tree. Put another way, it is possible that,in some implementations, the natural language processing engine 202serves to classify the free-form text 210 into a set of classificationscorresponding to nodes of a fault-determination decision tree.

By employing the system 200, it is possible to avoid and/or reduce theburden of using a fault-determination decision tree to assess fault. Forexample, in some cases the system 200 may map a given free-form text 210to a leaf node of fault-determination decision tree thereby providing afault determination without requiring any further processing. In anotherexample, the system 200 may serve to “short circuit” the requiredanalysis and may greatly reduce the number of edges of afault-determination decision tree that need to be traversed in order toarrive at a leaf node and a fault determination.

An example of how the system 200 may simplify assessment of fault usingthe example decision tree 100 is shown in FIG. 3 .

In FIG. 3 , the system 200 has been employed in order to identify, basedon some free-form text 210 (not shown in FIG. 3 ), a corresponding node300 of the example decision tree 100. In the illustrated case, thecorresponding node 300 is one of the internal nodes 120 of the exampledecision tree 100. Notably, assessment of fault using the exampledecision tree 100 is greatly simplified in this case as compared to inFIG. 1 as only the questions corresponding to various of the child nodesof the corresponding node 300 need to be considered in order to arriveat one of the leaf nodes 130 and a fault determination. Put another way,the analysis is “short-circuited” and the nodes and the questionsassociated with nodes starting from the root node 110 and continuingdown through the internal nodes 120 to reach the corresponding node 300are skipped and need not be considered/answered. Instead, starting fromthe corresponding node 300, the aforementioned electronic computer maysuccessively prompt based on questions associated with internal nodesstarting from the corresponding node 300 and may then receive inputallowing a path through the example decision tree 100 to be identifiedstarting from the corresponding node 300 and ending at one of the leafnodes 130, with that leaf node corresponding to a fault determinationgoverning the circumstances of the collision in question. A comparisonof FIG. 3 and FIG. 1 will reveal the path navigated through the exampledecision tree 100 in FIG. 3 is significantly shorter than that throughthe example decision tree 100 in FIG. 1 (in each case the path isdepicted using bold arrows). Furthermore, the reader will appreciatethat, since the example decision tree 100 is greatly simplified as notedabove, the benefits of employing the system 200 and the reduction in thenumber of questions/internal nodes that need to be considered to assessfault in relation to a given collision may be greater in the case whereit is employed in relation to a real-world fault-determination decisiontree having for example, greater height and more internal nodes than aredepicted in the example decision tree 100.

An example system and method such as may employ the subject matter ofthe present application in providing recommendations as to faultdetermination for motor vehicle collisions will now be discussed withreference to FIGS. 4-7 .

FIG. 4 is a schematic operation diagram illustrating an operatingenvironment of an example embodiment of the aforementioned examplesystem.

As illustrated, a client computing device 400 is in communication with aserver computing device 410 via a network 420.

The client computing device 400 is depicted as being a personal computersuch as may, for example, be utilized by a direct insurancerepresentative working in a call center. However, this is by way ofexample. In some implementations, the client computing device 400 may bea computing device of another type such as, for example, a smart phone,a laptop computer, a tablet computer, a notebook computer, a hand-heldcomputer, a personal digital assistant, a portable navigation device, amobile phone, a wearable computing device (e.g., a smart watch, awearable activity monitor, wearable smart jewelry, and glasses and otheroptical devices that include optical head-mounted displays), or anyother type of computing device that may be configured to store data andsoftware instructions, and execute software instructions to performoperations consistent with disclosed embodiments.

The server computing device 410 is depicted as being a server. In someimplementations, the server computing device 410 may, for example, be amainframe computer, a minicomputer, or the like. In someimplementations, the server computing device 410 may be formed of or mayinclude one or more computing devices. The server computing device 410may include and/or may communicate with multiple computing devices suchas, for example, database servers, compute servers, and the like.Multiple computing devices such as these may be in communication using acomputer network and may communicate to act in cooperation as a computerserver system. For example, such computing devices may communicate usinga local-area network (LAN). In some implementations, the servercomputing device 410 may include multiple computing devices organized ina tiered arrangement. For example, the server computing device 410 mayinclude middle-tier and back-end computing devices. In someimplementations, the server computing device 410 may be a cluster formedof a plurality of interoperating computing devices.

The network 420 is a computer network. In some implementations, thenetwork 420 may be an internetwork such as may be formed of one or moreinterconnected computer networks. The network 420 may be or may includean Ethernet network, an asynchronous transfer mode (ATM) network, awireless network, the like, and/or more than one of any or all of theforegoing. The network 420 may employ one or more networking protocols.For example, the network 420 may be a TCP/IP network. In a particularexample, the network 420 may be the Internet.

As further described below, the server computing device 410 may employnatural language processing together with a decision tree correspondingto a set of fault-determination rules in order to provide arecommendation as to fault based, at least in part, on natural languageinput (unstructured text) describing the circumstances of a motorvehicle collision. Notably, the server computing device 410 may beprogrammed with software allowing it to provide functionality consistentwith the description of the system 200 above.

Each of the client computing device 400 and the server computing device410 is a stored-programmed electronic computer. An example computingdevice 500, instances of which may serve as one or both the clientcomputing device 400 and the server computing device 410 will now bedescribed with regard to FIG. 5 .

The example computing device 500 includes a variety of modules. Forexample, as illustrated, the example computing device 500 may include aprocessor 510, a memory 520, an I/O module 530, a communications module540, and/or a storage module 550. As illustrated, the foregoing examplemodules of the example computing device 500 are in communication over abus 560.

The processor 510 is a hardware processor. The processor 510 may, forexample, be one or more ARM, Intel x86, PowerPC processors or the like.

The memory 520 allows data to be stored and retrieved. The memory 520may include, for example, random access memory, read-only memory, andpersistent storage. Persistent storage may be, for example, flashmemory, a solid-state drive or the like. Read-only memory and persistentstorage are a non-transitory computer-readable storage medium. Acomputer-readable medium may be organized using a file system such asmay be administered by an operating system governing overall operationof the example computing device 500.

The I/O module 530 is an input module and an output module. As an inputmodule, the I/O module 530 allows the example computing device 500 toreceive input from components of the example computing device 500. Insome embodiments such as, for example, potentially where the examplecomputing device 500 corresponds to the client computing device 400, theI/O module 530 may allow the example computing device 500 to provideoutput (e.g., via a screen) and/or to receive input from one or moreinput devices such as, for example, from a keyboard and/or a pointingdevice (e.g., a mouse, trackball, trackpad, or the like).

The communications module 540 allows the example computing device 500 tocommunicate with other computing devices and/or various communicationsnetworks, such as, for example, the network 420. The communicationsmodule 540 may allow the example computing device 500 to send or receivecommunications signals. Communications signals may be sent or receivedaccording to one or more protocols or according to one or morestandards. For example, the communications module 540 may allow theexample computing device 500 to communicate via a cellular data network,such as for example, according to one or more standards such as, forexample, Global System for Mobile Communications (GSM), Code DivisionMultiple Access (CDMA), Evolution Data Optimized (EVDO), Long-termEvolution (LTE) or the like. Additionally or alternatively, thecommunications module 540 may allow the example computing device 500 tocommunicate via Wi-Fi™, using Bluetooth™ or via some combination of oneor more networks or protocols. In some implementations, all or a portionof the communications module 540 may be integrated into a component ofthe example computing device 500. For example, the communications module540 may be integrated into a communications chipset.

The storage module 550 allows data to be stored and retrieved. In someembodiments, the storage module 550 may be formed as a part of thememory 520 and/or may be used to access all or a portion of the memory520. Additionally or alternatively, the storage module 550 may be usedto store and retrieve data from persisted storage other than thepersisted storage (if any) accessible via the memory 520. In someembodiments, the storage module 550 may be used to store and retrievedata in/from a database. A database may be stored in persisted storage.Additionally or alternatively, the storage module 550 may access datastored remotely such as, for example, as may be accessed using a localarea network (LAN), wide area network (WAN), personal area network(PAN), and/or a storage area network (SAN). In some embodiments, thestorage module 550 may access data stored remotely using thecommunications module 540. In some embodiments, the storage module 550may be omitted and its function may be performed by the memory 520and/or by the processor 510 in concert with the communications module540 such as, for example, if data is stored remotely.

Software comprising instructions is executed by the processor 510 from acomputer-readable medium. For example, software may be loaded intorandom-access memory from persistent storage of the memory 520.Additionally or alternatively, instructions may be executed by theprocessor 510 directly from read-only memory of the memory 520.

FIG. 6 depicts a simplified organization of software components storedin the memory 520 of the example computing device 500. As illustrated,these software components include an operating system 600 and anapplication software 610.

The operating system 600 is software. The operating system 600 allowsthe application software 610 to access the processor 510, the memory520, the I/O module 530, the communications module 540, and the storagemodule 550 of the example computing device 500. The operating system 600may be, for example, Google™ Android™, Apple™ iOS™, UNIX™, Linux™,Microsoft™ Windows™, Apple OSX™ or the like.

Where one or both of the client computing device 400 and the servercomputing device 410 correspond to respective instances of the examplecomputing device 500, the application software 610 may adapt the examplecomputing device 500 to perform one or more associated functions. Forexample, the application software 610 may adapt an instance of theexample computing device 500 to serve as the server computing device 410and to provide functionality consistent with the description of thesystem 200 above. Additionally or alternatively, the applicationsoftware 610 may adapt an instance of the example computing device 500to serve as the client computing device 400 providing a user thereofwith access to the functionality provided by the server computing device410.

An example method 700 for providing a recommendation as to a faultdetermination for a motor vehicle collision will now be described withreference to the flowchart of FIG. 7 . In particular, operationsperformed by the server computing device 410 in providing such arecommendation are summarized in the flowchart of FIG. 7 . In performingthe example method 700 depicted in the flowchart, operations startingfrom an operation 710 and continuing onward are performed by a processorof the server computing device 410 executing software. For example,where the server computing device 410 is or includes at least oneinstance of the example computing device 500, the operations may beperformed by the processor 510 executing instructions of a suitableinstance of the application software 610.

At the operation 702, unstructured text describing the circumstances ofa motor vehicle collision is received. The unstructured text maycorrespond to the free-form text 210 (FIG. 2 ) discussed above inrelation to the system 200. The unstructured text may be received forprocessing by a processor of the server computing device 410. Theunstructured text may be received from the client computing device 400via the network 420 such as, for example, using the communicationsmodule 540 where the server computing device 410 is or includes at leastone instance of the example computing device 500.

Following the operation 702, an operation 704 is next.

At the operation 704, the unstructured text received at the operation702 is evaluated by the processor of the server computing device 410.Based on that evaluation, an associated intent related to thecircumstances of the motor vehicle collision described in theunstructured text is identified. Notably, the identification of theassociated intent may be performed in a manner consistent with thedescription of the operation of the natural language processing engine202 above and techniques may be employed in processing at the operation704 consistent with that description.

Following the operation 704, an operation 706 is next.

At the operation 706, the intent identified at the operation 704 ismapped to a node of a decision tree corresponding to a set offault-determination rules. The set of fault-determination rules to whichthe tree corresponds may, for example, be a set of prescribed rules suchas may be set out in legislation of a corresponding jurisdiction. Forexample, the prescribed rules may be the Ontario fault-determinationrules discussed above. The mapping performed at the operation 706 may beperformed in manners consistent with the description of the operation ofthe intent mapper 204 above and techniques may be employed in processingat the operation 706 consistent with that description.

Notably, if the node of the decision tree to which the intent maps is aleaf node, the leaf node will correspond to a fault-determination ruleand so a recommendation as to fault determination may be provided basedon that corresponding fault-determination rule. However, if the node ofthe decision tree to which the intent maps is an internal node, furtherprocessing is required. It is this second case that is illustrated inFIG. 7 . Put another way, FIG. 7 illustrates the case where the intentmaps to an interior node of a decision tree corresponding to a set of afault-determination rules.

Following the operation 706, an operation 708 is next.

At the operation 708, the processor successively prompts and receivesinput responsive to that prompting. The prompts may be generated by aprocessor of the server computing device 410 and may then be conveyed tothe client computing device 400 by way of the network 420. The promptmay then be presented using an output device of the client computingdevice 400 (e.g., a display) and then the input responsive to theprompting may be received by the client computing device 400 and thensent to the server computing device 410 via the network 420.

The input received by the processor of the server computing device 410corresponds to details of circumstances of the motor vehicle. Moreparticularly, the received input may be answers to questionscorresponding to internal nodes of the decision along a path startingfrom the internal node identified at the operation 706. That path willend at a leaf node of that decision tree. As discussed above, a leafnode of a decision tree corresponding to a set of fault-determinationrules will correspond to a fault-determination rule and should match thecircumstances of the motor vehicle collision to which the unstructuredtext received at the operation 702 and the input received at theoperation 708 relate. In summary, the processor may generate prompts andreceive input so as to allow the decision tree to be navigated from theidentified internal node through to a leaf node in manners consistentwith the discussion above of both the system 200 and its use, with thoseprompts being based on the various intermediate nodes along the pathbetween the internal node identified at the operation 706 and the leafnode.

Following the operation 708, an operation 710 is next.

At the operation 710, a recommendation as to a fault determination forthe motor vehicle collision is provided by a processor of the servercomputing device 410 based on the fault-determination rule correspondingto the leaf node terminating the path that was navigated through at theoperation 708. In some implementations, the recommendation may beconveyed by the server computing device 410 to the client computingdevice 400 such as, for example, to allow it to be presented to a userusing some output device of the client computing device 400 (e.g., adisplay).

The above-description is by way of example and is capable of variationwithout deviating from the subject matter of the present application.

As a first example of a possible variation, it may be that an action inaddition to or other than presenting the recommendation as todetermination of fault identified may be taken responsive to reaching aleaf node of the decision tree in the example method 700. For example,such an action may include, at the operation 710, initiation of theprocessing of an insurance claim related to the motor vehicle accident.In and/or responsive to such processing, responsibility for the motorvehicle collision may, for example, be apportioned between one or moreinsurers (e.g., insurers of the vehicles/persons involved in thecollision) based on the recommendation as to the determination of faultin addition to or as an alternative to providing the recommendation suchas, for example, for presentation to user. In a particular example, theserver computing device 410 may communicate (e.g., via the network 420)with one or more other server computing devices so as to initiateprocessing of such a claim.

In another example of a possible variation, a confidence value may beprovided in association with a recommendation. Such a confidence valuemay, for example, be computed based on confidence associated with theidentification of the internal node. In a particular example, theconfidence may relate to a confidence associated with intentidentification for a given free form, unstructured text (e.g., for anintent identified at the operation 704 based on unstructured textreceived at the operation 702).

In another example of a possible variation, free-form texts andcorresponding recommendations as to determination of fault obtainedacross successive performing of the example method 700 may be collectedfor use in training a natural-language processing neural network such aswas discussed above in relation to the natural language processingengine 202 (i.e., one or more natural-language processing neuralnetworks for use in evaluating unstructured text describing thecircumstances of motor vehicle collisions to identify intents related tothe circumstances of the motor vehicle collisions). For example,unstructured text and corresponding recommendations/determinations offault may be added to and/or used to generated a new training set fortraining such natural-language processing neural networks. Additionally,where a confidence level is calculated for the recommendation asdiscussed above, it may also be added to the data set for training thenatural-language processing neural network. For example, arecommendation as to the determination of fault may be added to the dataset together with associated confidence levels and/or unstructured text.Notably, where such data (including or not including an associatedconfidence level) is added to an existing training set, it may be thatthe evaluation of unstructured text and the identification of associatedintent related to the circumstances of a motor vehicle described thereinthat resulted in that added data were performed based on anatural-language processing network trained using an earlier version ofthe data set.

In another example of a possible variation, it is noted that composing adecision tree from fault-determination rules may be a labor-intensivetask. Additionally or alternatively, it may be that thefault-determination rules of some jurisdictions are incomplete. Theinventors have recognized that the fault-determination rules of somejurisdictions are, however, a subset of and/or less complicated thanthose of other jurisdictions. For example, in Canada, the Ontariofault-determination rules discussed above may be considered both morecomprehensive and more complex than those of some other Canadianprovinces such as, for example, Prince Edward Island (PEI). Furthermore,some of those other Canadian provinces (again, e.g., PEI) may be toosmall for the work to build out a decision tree based on the relevantprovincial fault-determination rules to be justifiable/economic.Additionally or alternatively, such a small market may not allow forcollection of a suitable training set organically as discussed aboveand/or it may not be cost-effective to generate one manually usingexperts and hypothetical and/or historical collisions as discussedabove.

As mentioned, the Ontario fault-determination rules are relativelycomprehensive. Indeed, the Ontario fault-determination rules are atleast as specific as those of all of the other Canadian provinces thathave fault-determination rules. For example, in Ontario specific rulesare provided for situations that require fall back to a more generic“catch all” rule under the fault-determination rules of other provinces.

A decision tree and intent classifier developed for a “comprehensive”fault-determination jurisdiction such as Ontario may be employed forother provinces as follows. A legislative concordance can be developedmapping from fault as determined under the more comprehensivefault-determination rules of one jurisdiction (e.g., from the Ontarioregulations) to the regulations of one or more second jurisdictions.Such a legislative concordance is, in effect, a look-up table mappingbetween the fault-determination rules of different sets offault-determination rules. To assess fault for a second regulatoryjurisdiction (i.e., under its rules), the decision tree and intentclassifier associated with a first regulatory jurisdiction (i.e., themore comprehensive jurisdiction) may be employed to arrive at arecommendation as to fault determination in manners discussed above.Then, once fault has been determined under those more comprehensiverules, the result can be mapped using the relevant concordance to arriveat corresponding fault-determination rule of the second regulatoryjurisdiction. A recommendation as to the determination of fault can thenbe provided based on that rule (the rule of the second regulatoryjurisdiction).

In some cases, the second regulatory jurisdiction may be identified fromamongst a set of available secondary regulatory jurisdictions, some orall of which have associated fault-determination rules less specificthan those of the first regulatory jurisdiction. In someimplementations, the second regulatory jurisdiction may be automaticallyidentified based on a current location of an input device used toprovide the unstructured text describing the circumstances of a motorvehicle collision under consideration and/or to provide input receivedto navigate a decision tree. In a particular example, where the inputdevice used to provide such input corresponds to the client computingdevice 400, the client computing device 400 may provide its location foruse in making such a selection. The client computing device 400 maydetermine its location in a variety of manners. For example, the clientcomputing device 400 may include or may interact with a receiver for oneor more of satellite-based location systems, such as, for example,global positioning satellite (GPS), GLONASS, BeiDou Navigation SatelliteSystem (BDS), and/or Galileo in order to locate the client computingdevice 400. Additionally or alternatively, the client computing device400 may employ other techniques/technologies for geographic locationdetermination such as, for example, cell-tower triangulation and/or theuse of wireless (e.g., Wi-Fi) hotspot location data. In another example,a geographic location may be determined using cell-tower triangulation.

In another example of a possible variation, more than one decision treemay be provided for different jurisdictions such as, for example,covering jurisdictions having fault-determination rules that cannot beproperly mapped to from those of another jurisdiction using aconcordance as discussed above. In some implementations, the servercomputing device 410 may identify the relevant decision tree fromamongst a set of decision trees corresponding to sets of prescribedfault-determination rules of different jurisdictions. For example, arelevant jurisdiction may be identified based on location in mannerssimilar to as was discussed above in relation to the identification ofsecond regulatory jurisdictions above.

In another example of a possible variation, the interface for a systemin accordance with the subject matter of the present application maycorrespond to a chat bot. For example, such a chat bot may provide aconversational interface prompting a user to first describe thecircumstances of a motor vehicle collision (thereby providing theunstructured text describing the circumstances) and/or may, responsiveto receiving such unstructured text, engage the user in a conversationcorresponding to prompts (questions/output from the bot) and responses(answers/input to the bot by a user) consistent with prompts andresponses required for navigation of a decision tree starting from aninterior node identified based on unstructured text in manners discussedabove (e.g., in relation to the operation 708).

Example embodiments of the present application are not limited to anyparticular operating system, system architecture, mobile devicearchitecture, server architecture, or computer programming language.

It will be understood that the applications, modules, routines,processes, threads, or other software components implementing thedescribed method/process may be realized using standard computerprogramming techniques and languages. The present application is notlimited to particular processors, computer languages, computerprogramming conventions, data structures, or other such implementationdetails. Those skilled in the art will recognize that the describedprocesses may be implemented as a part of computer-executable codestored in volatile or non-volatile memory, as part of anapplication-specific integrated chip (ASIC), etc.

As noted, certain adaptations and modifications of the describedembodiments can be made. Therefore, the above discussed embodiments areconsidered to be illustrative and not restrictive.

What is claimed is:
 1. A computer system comprising: a processor; anatural language processing engine; a memory storing instructions that,when executed by the computer system, cause the computer system to:receive, by the processor, unstructured text describing circumstances ofa motor vehicle collision; identify, by the natural language processingengine and based on the unstructured text, an associated intent relatedto the circumstances of the motor vehicle collision; successivelyprompt, via a computing device, and receive, by the processor and fromthe computing device, input responsive to the prompting andcorresponding to details of the circumstances of the motor vehiclecollision and identify, based on the input received from the computingdevice responsive to the prompting and the associated intent identifiedby the natural language processing engine, a rule governing motorvehicle collisions and matching the circumstances of the motor vehiclecollision; and provide, by the processor, a recommendation as to a faultdetermination for the motor vehicle collision based on the rule.
 2. Thecomputer system of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed bythe computer system, further cause the computer system to: initiateprocessing of an insurance claim related to the motor vehicle collisionwherein responsibility for the motor vehicle collision is to beapportioned between one or more insurers based on the recommendation asto the determination of fault.
 3. The computer system of claim 1,wherein the prompting includes presenting prompts based on intermediatenodes along a path between an internal node and a leaf node of adecision tree.
 4. The computer system of claim 1, wherein the rulecorresponds to a regulatory jurisdiction and wherein providing therecommendation as to the determination of fault for the motor vehiclecollision based on the rule includes mapping the rule to a correspondingfault-determination rule of a second regulatory jurisdiction andproviding the recommendation as to the determination of fault based onthe corresponding fault-determination rule.
 5. The computer system ofclaim 4, wherein the instructions, when executed by the computer system,further cause the computer system to: identify the second regulatoryjurisdiction from amongst a plurality of secondary regulatoryjurisdictions.
 6. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the secondregulatory jurisdiction is identified based on a current location of thecomputing device used to provide the input received responsive to theprompting.
 7. The computer system of claim 5, wherein the unstructuredtext describing circumstances of the motor vehicle collision is receivedfrom the computing device used to provide the input received responsiveto the prompting.
 8. The computer system of claim 1, wherein theinstructions, when executed by the computer system, further cause thecomputer system to: calculate a confidence level in association with therecommendation.
 9. The computer system of claim 8, wherein theinstructions, when executed by the computer system, further cause thecomputer system to: add the recommendation as to the determination offault and the associated confidence level to a data set for training anatural-language processing neural network for use in evaluatingunstructured text.
 10. The computer system of claim 1, wherein thecomputer system includes an intent mapper and the instructions, whenexecuted by the computer system, further cause the computer system tomap, via the intent mapper, the intent identified by the naturallanguage processing engine to an internal node of a decision treecorresponding to a set of rules and wherein the successively promptingis further based on a path through the decision tree starting from theinternal node of the decision tree.
 11. The computer system of claim 1,wherein at least one of the unstructured text describing thecircumstances of the motor vehicle collision and the input receivedresponsive to the prompting is received via a chat bot.
 12. The computersystem of claim 1, wherein the instructions, when executed by thecomputer system, further cause the computer system to: identify adecision tree from amongst a plurality of decision trees correspondingto sets of prescribed fault-determination rules of differentjurisdictions.
 13. A computer-implemented method comprising: receivingunstructured text describing circumstances of a motor vehicle collision;identifying, by a natural language processing engine and based on theunstructured text, an associated intent related to the circumstances ofthe motor vehicle collision; successively prompting, via a computingdevice, and receiving from the computing device input responsive to theprompting and corresponding to details of the circumstances of the motorvehicle collision and identifying, based on the input received from thecomputing device responsive to the prompting and the associated intentidentified by the natural language processing engine, a rule governingmotor vehicle collisions and matching the circumstances of the motorvehicle collision; and providing a recommendation as to a faultdetermination for the motor vehicle collision based on the rule.
 14. Themethod of claim 13, further comprising: initiating processing of aninsurance claim related to the motor vehicle collision whereinresponsibility for the motor vehicle collision is to be apportionedbetween one or more insurers based on the recommendation as to thedetermination of fault.
 15. The method of claim 13, wherein theprompting includes presenting prompts based on intermediate nodes alonga path between an internal node and a leaf node of a decision tree. 16.The method of claim 13, wherein the rule corresponds to a regulatoryjurisdiction and wherein providing the recommendation as to thedetermination of fault for the motor vehicle collision based on the ruleincludes mapping the rule to a corresponding fault-determination rule ofa second regulatory jurisdiction and providing the recommendation as tothe determination of fault based on the correspondingfault-determination rule.
 17. The method of claim 16, furthercomprising: identifying the second regulatory jurisdiction from amongsta plurality of secondary regulatory jurisdictions, wherein the secondregulatory jurisdiction is identified based on a current location of thecomputing device used to provide the input received responsive to theprompting.
 18. The method of claim 17, wherein the unstructured textdescribing circumstances of the motor vehicle collision is received fromthe computing device used to provide the input received responsive tothe prompting.
 19. The method of claim 13, further comprising:calculating a confidence level in association with the recommendation;and adding the recommendation as to the determination of fault and theassociated confidence level to a data set for training anatural-language processing neural network for use in evaluatingunstructured text.
 20. A non-transitory computer-readable storage mediumstoring instructions that, when executed by a processor of computersystem, cause the computer system to: receive, by the processor,unstructured text describing circumstances of a motor vehicle collision;identify, by a natural language processing engine of the computer systemand based on the unstructured text, an associated intent related to thecircumstances of the motor vehicle collision; successively prompt, via acomputing device, and receive, by the processor and from the computingdevice, input responsive to the prompting and corresponding to detailsof the circumstances of the motor vehicle collision and identify, basedon the input received from the computing device responsive to theprompting and the associated intent identified by the natural languageprocessing engine, a rule governing motor vehicle collisions andmatching the circumstances of the motor vehicle collision; and provide arecommendation as to a fault determination for the motor vehiclecollision based on the rule.